Dallas Gluten and Allergen-Free Expo

So, it happened. The Dallas Gluten & Allergen Free Expo was last weekend. It was a blast, and I think it was quite successful. There were amazing speakers at the public forum, as well as awesome cooking and baking classes that were packed with attentive, eager students. The vendor fair was wall-to-wall people at one point Saturday afternoon.

There were over 70 vendors. Now, I wasn’t a very good blogger, and I didn’t get a lot of photos (too busy enjoying myself), but here’s a sampling of the festivities:

Rudi’s Bakery was making grilled cheese. Smelled AMAZING.

Local Oven – a local gluten-free bakery with delicious hamburger buns

Karen, founder of Lauren’s Gourmet gluten-free baking mixes

Woodchuck also is selling a pumpkin cider. They were out when I came to their booth, but I might have to find it and check it out. You know, for research purposes.

There were so many more vendors than just these few. Hail Merry was there, sharing nibbles of all sorts of goodies, including their delicious lemon and chocolate tarts. Treasured Earth Foods was my new favorite find, as they had delicious, healthier treats. The cafe mocha kikas were amazing. Against The Grain was handing out samples of their products. I tried their bagel, which was dairy-free. It was chewy and really good. I don’t really like bagels (I think it’s a mental thing – an association with the gluten-y version that used to give me such tummyaches – go figure), but this was tasty enough to change my mind.

Hallie’s book, The Pure Kitchen, was just released. I was delighted to test some of her recipes. She has a wonderful ability to throw a few wholesome, delicious ingredients together and make something amazing. Her recipes are all gluten and dairy-free as well.

She was on local TV here in the Dallas area last week as well – twice! She shares links here.

Silvana Nardone was also there teaching a cooking class (she handed out gluten-free donuts!), as was Christy Morgan of The Blissful Chef. Also teaching was the awesome Carol Kicinski of Simply…Gluten-Free. I was in the very back of the class, so my photos leave something to be desired, but I loved her class. Carol has an addictive personality – fun, energetic, and carefree.

I also got the opportunity to listen to Iris of the Daily Dietribe talk about inflammation and diet. It was a great discussion, and she is even more beautiful in person than on the internet!

I also met Brittany of Real Sustenance, who taught a baking class as well (everyone raved about her cinnamon rolls – I didn’t get a chance to taste!). For some reason, I never got a photo of Brittany – again, bad blogger! There were many other amazing gluten-free bloggers and non-bloggers alike there as well. It was wonderful to be present with people that really “get” what being gluten-free means, and so wonderful to learn and share ideas with each other.

I was so honored to be a part of it. I felt my talk at the Public Forum (I talked about reducing cross-contamination in a shared, a.k.a. non-gluten-free kitchen) went well, and I hope that the discussion helped those that listened. I was most appreciative of the opportunity!

Here is a compilation of video and photos that another attendee captured – quite good, if I do say so myself.

But now, back to real life. Being away from the house all weekend meant that I didn’t do my usual grocery shopping, nor did I plan my meals in time for my now-usual Monday meal plans. I did head to the store last night after work, however, and picked up enough food to make grilled chicken thighs with a garden salad, slow-cooker indian chicken (from Hallie’s book), steak with sweet potatoes and broccoli, and tacos (taco salad for me). And I bought a bunch of winter squash, because it’s October and I become obsessed with winter squashes in the fall. Not sure if we’ll get to all of those meals, and breakfast and lunch will be a bit of a last minute throw-together, but we’ll figure it out. At least there is a lot of food in the house again, because this weekend, it was looking pretty sparse.

I hope to share with you many delicious recipes again soon – I have a warm eggplant and yellow squash salad in the works that uses the last of the summer produce in a lovely, welcome-to-fall way. Stay tuned…

Shirley – Thank you, and I’m sorry you had to miss out too! Hopefully we’ll meet in real life soon.

Sophia – It’s amazing how awareness has increased over the last few years. As for squash, I bought two pretty green-and-white speckled acorn squashes, one spaghetti squash, and one butternut squash. Totally going to stock up on kabocha too though. It’s practically dessert, it’s so sweet and delicious. I could eat it like it was a pudding or something!

Great post, Alta! I’m so glad your presentation went well and you got to meet and see so many others do presentations. I’m really sorry I had to miss out on the fun, including meeting several folks like Iris and getting to see other great friends again.

Wow, you’re quick! I forgot to take photos, so I’m glad you got some nice ones. It was a wonderful weekend, and I loved being around a ton of people who “get it.” And you, my dear, are stunning in person. Brittany and I were talking later about how gorgeous you are in person and how much fun it was to hang out with you.

Yes, it was a fabulous event! I agree about Iris…she is simply stunning. Some day we’re going to have to plan a “no work” weekend for all of us. There wasn’t enough time to just hang out. (I’m not sure not working is in our blood, though….)

Thanks for the great write-up about the Expo! I am so happy you were able to join us and share your knowledge with everyone. And I was so excited to see your pictures and read what you wrote. I’m running around all weekend and never get a chance to stop and really see everything.

[…] how many hours they’d been working on various recipes in their kitchens. I met them at the Dallas Gluten-Free and Allergen-Free Expo last October and the topic of the cookbook came up in conversations then. I also was lucky enough […]

[…] met Todd Fitzerman, Director of Sales at Local Oven, back when I attended the Gluten & Allergen-Free Expo last October. I sampled their product then and was impressed. Now that they’ve settled into […]

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